I am still looking for a replacement of my bike’s back rim. As you know, I am currently using a 26” Rigida Explorer rim, which replaced my Mavic Extreme 721. At the moment the new one seems to be ok, but every time I use my back V-brakes they make a real loud creaking noise. Loud enough to wake up the people down under. I tried adjusting the brakes but to no avail.

Well, in the mean time my bike shop inquired about a new ceramic rim from Mavic. And sadly, they only can get one with holes for 32 spokes from Mavic, and not with holes for 36 spokes anymore. I trust the 36 spoke version more for long loaded touring (heavy loaded duty = bike with lots of luggage and myself).

So I checked out the 2009 version of the Koga Miyata Worldtraveller, to see what kind of brakes and rims they now use. And voilà: obviously no ceramic rims anymore. But they don’t use Mavic ones, instead they look like a “homebrew”: Koga KM21-559 XStrong alloy - double wall and double eyeletted 36 holes rims, durable finished and in black colour. I will ask my bike shop to get a quote for a set and if my wallet allows, I might try that one as a replacement for my Mavic rims.

My bike is at the shop again and I getting repaired. The rim of the rear wheel cracked, obviously from braking. I was quite astonished to see the crack because the rim is a 26” Mavic Extreme (EX 721), one year old and had only 4000 km on it’s back. The third Mavic rim in a row, nearly one per year. The “old” Mavic ceramic rim on my front wheel is already doing its service for nearly ten years. It’s a shame it’s hard to get ceramic rim or other durable rims today.

I now decided to get a complete cheap wheel with a Rigida Explorer rim and a Shimano Deore hub for city and light cycling. And I told my bike shop to get quotes for a new ceramic rim or similar durable rims from DT Swiss.

Yesterday afternoon, after leaving the office and cycling roughly 1000 metres, my seat post broke. I was astonished to see the complete upper part of the tube was torn off. Ok, I cycled in a standing position the few kilometres to my bike shop and they exchanged the seat post with a new one. Obviously it was a material defect. I am glad this happened in Münster and not while on tour out in the wilderness.

Well, I have to rearrange a few things inside the bags, but this is the general layout. Mental note: I need a lightweight tent (hello Hilleberg!) and obviously a down sleeping bag for the smaller package.

If you are accustomed to go on tour with a partner, it’s difficult to fit all needed things on one bike.

Today I went down to the train station and thought I would buy my train ticket, going from Münster to Thisted in Denmark.

Well, it was a good intention, but the Deutsche Bahn (DB) decided otherwise.

I planned my trip using the online website of the DB. It showed me which trains I had to take and when I would arrive at Thisted. Now being at the counter in the travel centre, the nice dame came around with different arrival information and trains.

The problem was reserving slots for my bike on the Danish trains and obviously the DB’s system had a problem communicating with the Danish information database. A call to Berlin, DB’s headquarter, later, the lady told me they already knew about the problem. But they (I guess their admins) cannot figure out if that’s a problem on their or the Danish side.

So in the end I didn’t only reserve bike slots on the trains going from Padborg to Thisted, but I also only got me a ticket from Münster via Hamburg to Padborg. This leaves me to organise travelling any further by train in Denmark.

The worst case would be seeing me cycling through Denmark now.